


light it up (brighter than a firefly)

by gly13



Series: The Organisation [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Explicit Language, Kidnapping, M/M, Mention of blood, but like affectionate complaining, complaining, fighting but not much, ft. weird supervillain names, mild violence, renjun's superpower is being annoying, sickly sweet and fluffy, smartass!renjun, superhero!jaemin, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 06:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20286619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gly13/pseuds/gly13
Summary: “Now, Injunnie, I have a few questions about your boyfriend I’d like you to answer.”“No thanks.”or: renjun is a more difficult person to kidnap than originally thought





	light it up (brighter than a firefly)

**Author's Note:**

> ive recently fallen in love with both renmin and superhero aus and so this was born! (also i was procrastinating but shh)  
originally i wanted to practise writing action scenes but this ended up being like 5% action, 5% fluff, and 90% banter so that went well
> 
> title from fireflies by nct dream
> 
> please enjoy <3

It’s cold. It’s cold and Renjun is alone.

His hands shake as he pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time. His headphones tangle around the device, and he curses at Jaemin for stealing his airpods. 

Twenty minutes late.

His fingers are so numb it takes longer than it should for him to unlock it and even longer for him to compose a text, none of his taps against the keyboard registering.

_ hurry the fuck up _

Then a second, very disturbing thought. And worry crashes into him.

_ are you okay? _

_ please tell me you’re alright and not hurt _

“Aw, you’re worried about me,” teases a familiar voice and Renjun spins around to see Jaemin, very out of breath and, unfortunately, still very very gorgeous.

“You’re late,” Renjun bites out and Jaemin’s face quickly changes from something quite amused to something very guilty.

“I’m really sorry, Injunnie,” he says, trying to reach out and grab Renjun’s hand, but Renjun just shoves it back into his pocket. Jaemin’s face somehow falls even more. “I was on my way here, and I was going to be early ‒ I swear. But then I was walking past the convenience shop on the corner of ninth and there was this thug,” Renjun scoffs, “trying to rob them and I couldn’t just walk past it.”

His voice is whiny in that way that only Jaemin could make sound cute.

“I really am sorry. I tried to get here as fast as I could.”

“Are you hurt?”

Jaemin’s eyes widen slightly, as though that hadn’t been what he was expecting.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Well then you have no excuse for keeping me waiting,” Renjun huffs.

Jaemin laughs, bright and loud because he knows he’s already been forgiven. “You’re angry that I _ didn’t _ get hurt?”

“You kept me waiting in the cold.” Renjun sees the understanding appear in Jaemin’s eyes.

“I suppose I should warm you up then.”

He steps towards Renjun and slings an arm around his waist. Renjun goes pliantly, hands coming out of his pockets to gently frame Jaemin’s face. Their lips touch and Renjun feels the warmth surge through him. Jaemin, in the most literal sense, is a human radiator but the way Renjun burns from the inside when they kiss is definitely unrelated to Jaemin’s superpowers. It’s chaste but passionate and Renjun sighs when they pull away, leaning his forehead against Jaemin’s.

“You couldn’t have been born with superspeed instead?” Renjun says against Jaemin’s lips and he feels Jaemin smile.

“But then you wouldn’t have an excuse to kiss me.”

“You’re insufferable.”

Jaemin’s smile just widens and he takes Renjun’s hand into his own, intertwining their fingers. Renjun’s hand is hot where they’re touching. They set off down the street, Jaemin recounting his triumphant defeat of the ‘thug’ at the convenience store and Renjun nodding along. He is trying to listen but Jaemin’s smiling and that always makes it a little difficult to focus on anything else, nevermind how long they’ve been dating.

They’re almost at the restaurant when Jaemin’s phone rings. It’s the _ Mission Impossible _ theme and Renjun inwardly sighs. He knows who has that ringtone. Jaemin gives him a genuinely apologetic look as he fishes his phone out of his pocket. And Renjun tries his best to not let his disappointment show on his face but he must fail because Jaemin presses a kiss to his cheek and whispers, “I’m so sorry, Injunnie,” before answering.

“Jeno, this better be important,” Jaemin says into the receiver. Renjun can’t make out what Jeno’s saying on the other end of the line, but Jaemin’s face is morphing into an annoyed frown and it’s a rare sight for someone as happy and carefree as Jaemin usually is. Something sinks in Renjun’s gut. “Are you kidding me?... Fine. Fine. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Jaemin hangs up and immediately turns to Renjun, opening his mouth no doubt to apologise but Renjun gets there faster.

“It’s okay,” he says, smiling as best he can, “I get it. Duty calls.”

“I’m sorry, Injunnie. Apparently, Untouchable’s henchmen are terrorising the city again.” He looks more irritated than scared at the thought of his arch-nemesis and that, despite their date being ruined, makes Renjun laugh.

“You better go stop him then, Firefly.”

Jaemin surges forward and kisses Renjun again and Renjun feels his heart thump loudly as his eyes close. But then Jaemin’s pulling away and the moment is gone all too soon.

“I’ll see you at home?”

“I’m ordering take-out with your card.”

Jaemin laughs again. And then he’s running off towards the city centre, yelling at Renjun to get home safely over his shoulder. Renjun scoffs, as though he’s the one literally running into danger.

“Stay safe, Nana,” he calls out, but he doubts Jaemin hears it.

He watches until Jaemin’s out of sight, disappearing around a corner. It’s cold again.

He pushes his hands into his coat pocket with a little too much force and does his best not to think about Jaemin currently engaged in a fight above the city. Jaemin would win, of course he would ‒ he always did. But Untouchable, for all his hairbrained schemes and weird outfits, was powerful. And, even though Renjun knew Jaemin would win, there was still the very real risk that he would get hurt.

And Renjun hated it when Jaemin would come home with a bruise on his cheekbone and cuts over his arms. He hated it when it was clear Jaemin was having trouble walking around but pretended he was fine so Renjun wouldn’t worry. But Renjun would always worry; it was inevitable when you were dating a superhero.

He trudged through the cold city streets, kicking at stray stones and just generally feeling foul. He missed Jaemin’s warmth but he felt kind of bad for being as pissed as he was. It felt selfish to want Jaemin to prioritise their date over the safety of the city’s citizens. So he settled for feeling angry at Untouchable and his henchmen instead.

“Stupid Untouchable and his stupid plans, ruining my date. For fuck's sake, can he not try to take over the city tomorrow or something? Nana’d better burn his eyebrows off again. Stupid fucking Untoucha-”

And then there’s a cloth over his mouth and he can’t breathe, and there’s a thick arm wrapped around his waist. And even before the panic can set in, his vision is swimming and his eyes are slipping shut.

And everything goes black.

His arms ache. So does his neck. And his everything, really. His head feels dense and heavy and it costs too much effort to open his eyes. When he does, it takes a few moments for the room to stop spinning.

He almost laughs at how cliché it all is.

It’s a dark room, probably a warehouse of sorts. His arms are bound behind him and he’s sat on a wooden chair. The only lighting comes from a couple of loose light bulbs hanging from the ceiling by their wires. They’re clustered together, too, so the room devolves into shadows around the edges and Renjun can’t tell how big the room really is.

It’s more out of formality than actual expectation when he strains his muscles against the ropes binding him. They don’t budge in the slightest and, while predictable, he still feels disappointed.

A laugh sounds from the shadows and it puts him on edge more than it should. It’s a laugh he’s heard before. He’s heard it when he watches Jaemin’s fights, close enough to hear what they’re saying to each other. Heard it taunting Jaemin about not being good enough, heard it laughing as Jaemin struggled to save everyone at once. Heard it laughing when Jaemin got hurt.

Anger builds in his chest. Untouchable.

“Hello there, Pretty Boy.”

Renjun scowls. It’s not a nice nickname. It’s kind of gross, to be honest.

“Okay, how long have I been out for? Because you had all that time and the best thing you could come up with was _ hello pretty boy _?”

And maybe it was stupid to talk back to a supervillain because, next thing he knows, his head is being pushed down by an invisible force.

“Do you want to take that back, Injunnie?” Untouchable sing-songs.

And Renjun doesn’t consider himself a hateful person, but there’s no other way to describe the feeling that fills him then. Hatred. Maybe disgust.

“You don’t get to call me that,” he bites out, even though it’s difficult.

“Oh but, Injunnie,” the voice is right next to his ear now, and Renjun can feel his skin crawl. “You didn’t like pretty boy, but I know for a fact you like this one.”

Renjun’s head is pulled up then, too quickly and his neck clicks loudly in the empty space.

Untouchable is standing over him, his mouth twisted in a horribly ugly smile. Jaemin’s been up close and personal with Untouchable more times than he could count, but he’s always kept Renjun a safe distance away. So Renjun has built his image of the supervillain off of blurry images as he fought with Jaemin and shitty photos taken from long distances. He looks even worse up close, Renjun concludes. 

His nose is too big; it’s long and bony and it sticks out too far. It’s too pointy, too. His mouth is thin, and it looks even worse folded in a smug sneer like it is now. His hair is tufty, bright red and it sticks out in random directions. And his suit, oh his suit. It’s hideous.

It’s a strikingly horrific shade of purple, adorned with swirls of black and white and orange. The artist in Renjun threatens to hurl.

Jaemin’s suit is something Renjun designed himself and, thusly, it’s beautiful. After he’d discovered Jaemin’s identity, he’d spent weeks doodling outfit ideas for ‘Firefly’ in the margins of his textbook until Jaemin had accidentally seen one and demanded that Renjun design his actual suit because his one at the time had been “_ too dull and not beautiful enough for a face like mine, and it has a mask ‒ I can’t be hiding my face behind a mask any more, Injunnie. _”

Jaemin had put him in touch with Jeno ‒ his partner at The Organisation ‒ and, together, they’d made him a stylish and practical suit. Jaemin had squealed the first time he’d seen it, and said something about how he ‘finally had a suit befitting of his beauty’. He’d hugged Renjun then and Renjun can’t help but smile at the memory of it.

“You still there?”

Untouchable raps two knuckles against the top of Renjun’s head and it does nothing to clear the fogginess there. Renjun snarls at him, as threatening as he can manage, but it doesn’t seem to phase Untouchable who throws his head back laughing his ugly laugh.

“Now, Injunnie,” Renjun resists the urge to snarl again, “I have a few questions about your boyfriend I’d like you to answer.”

“No thanks.”

Untouchable slaps him across the face before gripping Renjun by the chin and pulling their faces close together so Renjun can’t look away.

“Let’s try that again, shall we? I’m going to ask you some questions about your boyfriend, and you are going to answer,” he says slowly, like he’s speaking to a child.

He uses his purchase on Renjun’s face to make him nod and Renjun does the only thing he can think of doing in that moment. And he spits in Untouchable’s face.

Untouchable blinks. And Renjun begins to regret everything he’s ever done. He screws his eyes shut when Untouchable raises his fist and he braces for impact.

“Sir!”

It doesn’t come. Untouchable lets go of his face and Renjun opens his eyes to see him spin around and one of his henchmen ‒ dressed in that same horrible purple colour ‒ come out from the shadows.

“What.”

“Firefly’s calling the hostage.”

_ The hostage _. Renjun very nearly scoffs. He has a name. Still, at least it's better than _pretty boy_.

Untouchable’s face splits into a grin, something sinister. And maybe it should scare Renjun, but the sight of the picture of him and Jaemin currently on display on his phone calms him easily. It’s back from when they first started dating, taken when they were both hiding from the rain after an unexpected storm interrupted their date. Both of them were soaked in the photo, the rain matting their hair to their foreheads and water dripping from their chins. Renjun looks utterly miserable; Jaemin looks radiant ‒ he’d insisted that it be his contact photo and Renjun had felt powerless to his pout.

It hadn’t been cold though, not with Jaemin next to him.

“_ Nana~ _,” Untouchable reads out mockingly, and Renjun feels fire curl in his gut. Untouchable watches as Renjun’s face morphs into a grimace with a vicious satisfaction. “Give it to me.”

“Hello, Nana,” he says, saccharinely sweet, into the receiver. Renjun hates him just that much more. “I suppose you’re looking for your little boyfriend.” Something unintelligible as Jaemin answers. “Mmhmm,” Untouchable hums, looking at Renjun. “Let your boyfriend know you’re alive, will you?”

He holds the phone up to Renjun’s ear.

“Jaemin?” Renjun asks hesitantly, because there’s a part of him worried that this is some kind of trick.

“Injun,” comes Jaemin’s voice and Renjun almost sobs because you can’t fake that. There’s relief in Jaemin’s voice, and also rage ‒ something more dangerous than Renjun has ever heard before ‒ but there’s no fear. Jaemin isn’t scared so Renjun isn’t either. “Did they hurt you?”

“Ye-yeah.”

Jaemin growls. He, honest to God, growls. The sound is raw and animalistic and Renjun may have found it hot if it had been under other circumstances.

“Stay put, babe,” Jaemin says, and his voice is alive with barely-concealed anger now. Renjun feels himself flush at the pet name despite himself.

“I don’t really have a choice.”

Jaemin makes a small noise of disbelief and Renjun can hear his smile when he speaks. “Trust you to be making jokes right now. I’ll see you in a bit. Love you.”

“You too.”

The line goes dead. Silence swallows the room and Untouchable cocks an eyebrow at him.

“He won’t be able to find you.”

“You keep believing that; it won’t help you.” Renjun’s confidence has spiked, knowing that Jaemin’s on his way, and there’s no way he’s going to just sit here, keep quiet, and wait to be rescued.

A flash of annoyance appears on Untouchable’s face, so quick that Renjun almost misses it before his mouth stretches into a smile. And maybe, if Renjun didn’t have so much faith in Jaemin, he would have been scared.

“Where is The Organisation’s headquarters?”

“I don’t know,” Renjun says, because he doesn’t. He’s never been.

Untouchable, unsurprisingly, doesn’t believe him.

“Come on now, Renjun,” he says, “this will all be over much faster if you just tell me.”

“I really don’t know,” he insists.

Untouchable shoots him a scathing look, and his fingers twitch as though he’s holding himself back. “Fine. Tell me about your boyfriend, then; you must know some things about him.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“What are his weaknesses?”

“Oh, sure, he has plenty of weaknesses,” Renjun says, and Untouchable’s face breaks into a grin. He gestures as if to say _ do go on _ and Renjun accepts the invitation. “He’s always late. Just today, he was twenty minutes late for our date. And he never does the dishes. Or picks up his socks ‒ the amount of times I’ve had to yell at him for leaving his socks lying around, honestly. And he _ is _ a great cook but his taste buds are fucked so we can never do that cute couple thing of sharing food because he always says mine is flavourless but the last time I had some of his ramen I couldn’t taste or smell anything but coriander for a week. And _ then _he’s always having to leave at random times ‒ though, to be fair, that’s usually more your fault than it is his. Next time you plan on attacking the city, do you mind not do it during-”

“Shut up,” Untouchable says, and there’s an undercurrent of something in his voice that makes Renjun obey, snapping his mouth shut. “You think you’re funny?”

Renjun has half a mind to say _ yes, actually, I do _ but closes his mouth again before he even opens it when Untouchable suddenly moves so that their faces are right in front of each other.

“I want actual information. And you’re going to give it to me. Understand?” Renjun nods slowly. “Good. Now, how do I bring Firefly down?”

“Cut off his caffeine supply.”

Untouchable punches him in the gut.

“I’m not lying!” Renjun shouts through coughs. “He can’t function without his coffee in the morning. He used to have eight-shot Americanos multiple times a day until I convinced him to cut back to four-shots.”

Untouchable lets out a strange noise ‒ dejection maybe, frustration definitely.

“I mean, if you really wanted to give him an early death, you should probably just leave him alone and let him die of a coffee-induced heart attack at the ripe age of thirty three.”

“Do you and Firefly just date each other because you’re both smart-asses? Is that a requirement for being associated with The Organisation or something? Because I swear you’re all the fucking same.”

Renjun smiles. He’s starting to see why Jaemin has so much fun doing this whole superhero thing now.

“Excuse you, I’m much smarter than Jaemin, thank you very much.”

Untouchable lets out another one of those noises.

“I don’t think that’s true, Renjun. If you were smart, you’d give me what I’m asking for.”

“I _ am- _”

“Don’t interrupt me, Injunnie,” his voice drops into something lower. “You know what I want from you. You tell me, and I let you go. It’s as simple as that.”

“I have more weaknesses if you-”

“No,” Untouchable cuts him off. He fixes Renjun with a smile that’s equal parts sweet and evil. Ultimately, it’s just incredibly disturbing. “I changed my mind. I don’t need to know his weaknesses, do I? Not when I have you. I heard his voice when he called you; I’ve seen how he acts around you.”

“I should probably tell you now that Jaemin’s a very touchy person, with, like, everyone.”

Untouchable laughs. “Don’t even try it. With you here, he can’t do anything. _ You _ are his weakness, Injunnie.”

Renjun certainly has mixed emotions about that last statement. There’s a part of him that’s kind of very happy that even Jaemin’s arch-nemesis knows that Jaemin loves Renjun so much. It’s something like pride at how Renjun is Jaemin’s only weakness, that he means that much to him. But then there’s another, much more horrible and insecure part of him that feels very apologetic, that feels like he’s not worth all the grief he’s putting Jaemin through. There’s a part of him that feels bad he’s such a burden to his boyfriend.

He shakes his head. Jaemin wouldn’t want him thinking like that.

“I’m not his weakness,” he says with more confidence than he feels. “I’m his strength.”

Untouchable scoffs.

“He loses all sense of rational thought and drops everything the moment you’re in danger. That’s not what I’d call a strength.”

“Then you obviously don’t know him well enough,” Renjun bites out.

“Well, that’s why I have you, isn’t it?” Untouchable smiles again, and he’s too close and Renjun tries to move his head as far away as he can whilst still being bound to the chair. “Now, go on, tell me about your boyfriend. Anything you can that might help me bring him down, and maybe I’ll kill you quickly.”

Renjun gulped. Of course, there were ways to bring Jaemin down. Actual ways. Ways to inhibit his powers, or blind spots ‒ patterns in his fighting style you could exploit if you knew what to look for. But Untouchable had just asked him to speak about Jaemin. And Jaemin was his favourite thing to talk about. And Untouchable was too close and it was very off putting and made Renjun very nervous which meant that his filter completely disappeared so he just started rambling.

“You know how he chose his name?” Renjun doesn’t wait for an answer. “Fire because, well, _ fire _ . And originally it was going to be something cool like _ Firestarter _ or something equally violent but he ended up going with Firefly because he thought it sounded cute. And, at first, The Organisation were like, ‘ _ No, Jaemin. That’s not intimidating enough,’ _but he didn’t care and he just started calling himself it anyway and by the time The Organisation found out, it had already become a thing. He really likes cute things, you see. And he likes being called cute, too. Which is lucky because, like, he is cute. Like, when he laughs, he only shows the top row of his teeth and it makes him look like a bunny. And-”

“Oh, for fucks sake, I’ve had enough.” Untouchable grips Renjun by the collar. “You really don’t know when to shut up, do you?”

He pushes Renjun back down into the chair with too much force. He pulls his arm up, hand clenching into a fist and Renjun tries to pull his head away, but there’s that same invisible force holding his head in place. Fucking telekenesis. He closes his eyes as tight as he can, hoping it will somehow reduce the inevitable pain.

It’s at times like these when Renjun really wishes he’d learnt the art of keeping his mouth shut but, alas, he was doomed to forever say what was on his mind, never mind how brutally honest or out of place it was. Mark called it mean; Donghyuck called it hilarious, but Jaemin called it cute. So he’d given up trying to stop. Now, though, when his mouth was about to earn him a punch (and not just any punch either, a supervillain punch which was an infamously painful experience, and Renjun didn’t have the training and powers to withstand it like Jaemin did) he really, really wishes that he had the ability to think before he spoke.

There’s something like a light _ thud _ and a quick rush of wind across his face. But there’s no punch.

“How nice of you to drop in,” Untouchable’s voice breaks through the darkness, dripping with sarcasm, “Firefly.”

Renjun’s eyes fly open.

He physically feels himself relax as he takes in the sight in front of him. Jaemin’s here. Still in his suit, a cocky smile on his face but something terrifying lurking behind his eyes. All in all, it’s kind of hot. Jaemin’s hand is around Untouchable’s wrist, and his knuckles are white with how tight his grip is. And, had Renjun not known Jaemin as well as he did, he may have thought he was calm. As it was, though, Renjun could see the slight tremor to his left hand, the way his eyes raked up and down Renjun’s body, looking for injuries. The way his shoulders relaxed slightly when he couldn’t see anything too bad.

Jaemin's hair is pink and it should clash with his suit but it doesn't because it's Jaemin. Renjun sighs slightly ‒ not loud, but Jaemin hears it and smirks.

“See, Touchy,” Jaemin says, seemingly blithe if not for the undertone of something strong, menacing lacing his words, “I keep telling you that you need to change your name. Doesn’t really make sense when I can catch your hand as easily as this.”

Untouchable scowls.

“Maybe,” Jaemin continues, “you should change it to something cuter ‒ like mine.”

He shoots Renjun a wink then, and Renjun feels something click into place with a horrible realisation.

"You asshole! Were you just waiting around so you could make a dramatic entrance?" Renjun asks incredulously, even as relief floods his chest and he tries to still his rapidly beating heart.

"Maybe," Jaemin grins, too relaxed, "or maybe I just like seeing you tied up."

"You're disgusting."

Jaemin laughs. With that laugh, Renjun sometimes finds himself wondering how on earth Jaemin wasn’t a supervillain instead. Then he remembers: he’s Jaemin; he’s too good.

“Now, Untouchable,” Jaemin turns to look at said man, his face turning steely and Renjun almost can’t recognise him with the rage clear in his eyes, “you hurt my boyfriend.”

And then everything moves too quickly.

Renjun’s chair gets sent flying backwards with a flick of Untouchable’s hand and his neck clicks with the movement. He hears Untouchable shout something at his henchmen and suddenly there’s fire. Great monsters of flame spin out from Jaemin’s hands, chasing away the shadows and revealing the corners of the room. There’s thirty or so henchmen but that doesn’t seem to bother Jaemin as he leaps into the air and sends a storm of fire raining down on them. None of them come anywhere near Renjun.

Then Jaemin’s back on the ground, fist connecting with the cheek of one henchmen as fire spirals out from behind him to take care of another. He catches the wrist of a burly man, twisting it in his grasp and sending him to the floor in one swift movement.

It’s a blur of purple and red and orange and yellow, melding together. And with every sound, punch, kick, and grunt, the purple becomes less and less and less.

Watching Jaemin fight is an experience. Before Renjun even knew Jaemin was Firefly, he’d been entranced by his movements. He fought in a way no one else did. There were hundreds of superheroes roaming the streets of Seoul, but none of them could match Jaemin in grace and power ‒ not to Renjun, at least. Before he knew Firefly’s identity, he would sit, staring up at the sky where Jaemin was, and sketch out his movements as best he could. Angular and sharp yet elegant and stylish. The refined manner of his fighting style contrasted wonderfully with the wild nature of his fire and Renjun had ‒ and still does ‒ found it bewitching. He’d filled up sketchbooks with drawings of the Firefly.

Right now, though, is something a little different. Jaemin’s working faster than usual, as though he’s impatient to free Renjun. There’s less finesse to his moves, more violence, like he’s letting out his anger. He punches a little harder, not as carefully aimed. He kicks them to the ground in one rather than having fun with it like he usually does. Renjun’s heart swells.

He has a strange sort of sixth sense when he’s fighting, though he tells Renjun not to call it that. It’s almost as though he can sense where people are around him without looking, can predict their movements. He’d told Renjun, once, that his fire came alive from the dormant energy in the air, ignited only by the heat in his blood. That he could feed the air around him with enough of that heat to make it an extension of his body, so he could feel things around him.

He’d been proud of it, the day he’d perfected it. His smile was blinding.

With one final high kick, he sends the final henchman to the ground and spins around to glare at Untouchable. Jaemin stands in the middle of a ring of fire, surrounded by unconscious bodies he doesn’t deign to give a second glance. His gaze is absolutely livid. He’s panting heavily, sweat sticking to his forehead. He grinds his teeth slightly, and Renjun is overwhelmed with pride.

He begins to walk forward, straight through the flames, his steps purposeful and heavy.

But then Untouchable’s face breaks out into a grin and dread drops dead in Renjun’s gut. He’s about to call out to Jaemin in warning ‒ warning against _ what _ he doesn’t know, only that Jaemin’s in danger and his natural instinct is to prevent him from getting hurt.

A gunshot.

Loud, echoing and deafening in Renjun’s ears. One final henchman, hiding in a corner, hidden from the flames, a gun in his hands.

Renjun’s heart leaps into his throat and suddenly he can’t breathe.

A fire. A tiny, but white-hot fire in a seemingly random place in the air. But Renjun knows better. The bullet melts before it can ever get close to Jaemin. Jaemin doesn’t even look in the henchman’s direction when the gun begins to burn in his hands and he can’t let go. It drips onto the floor as a thick, black liquid and sears the flooring where it lands. The man collapses to the ground, holding his hands close to his chest.

Fire dances behind Jaemin’s eyes.

“I don’t care how important you think you are,” he says, his voice deeper than Renjun’s ever heard and, even though he knows it’s not directed at him, it makes his hairs stand on end, his heart beat faster still. “I don’t care how much you hate me or how much you want to take over the city. You don’t touch my boyfriend.”

Untouchable looks shocked for only a moment before he disguises it with obviously fake arrogance.

“You didn’t exactly make it difficult, Nana.” Jaemin’s gaze grows impossibly more frightening. “Leaving him all alone like that. He was just _ asking _ to get taken.”

A flash of hurt that Jaemin quickly masks, and Renjun knows he blames himself. He doesn’t like seeing Jaemin angry, not ever. Not even when it comes from a place of love.

“Strange,” Jaemin says, “I had thought I was doing the whole secret identity thing pretty well.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Renjun says, breaking through the tension to fix his boyfriend with a look. The no verbal filter strikes again. “You geo-tag all of your Instagram posts! And all your captions are like ‘_ come at me supervillains _ ’ or ‘ _ i am: a superhero, looking for: supervillains in my area _’.”

Jaemin grins sheepishly, finally looking at Renjun.

“You don’t even wear a mask, Nana.”

“Babe,” Jaemin says, “you’re making me look bad in front of my arch-nemesis.”

“Good.”

Jaemin pouts, and Renjun laughs despite himself. And then Jaemin smiles and Renjun can’t help but think _ that’s better _.

“As much as I love young love,” Untouchable says with stark disgust, and Renjun is abruptly reminded of his existence. It’s all too easy to forget the rest of the world exists when talking to Jaemin. “I’d much prefer it if you fucked off, Firefly.”

“Not gonna happen,” Jaemin says cooly, eyes back on Untouchable.

“It wasn’t a choice.”

And then there’s something cold and sharp at the base of Renjun’s throat. And the biting stench of metal and blood cuts through the air. He feels a bead of his trickle down the column of his neck.

Rejun’s heartbeat is loud in his ears, and he stills his breathing out of instinct. Fear. Fear pulsates through him and he locks his limbs, scared that even the slightest movement will kill him.

Something in Jaemin’s gaze clicks then. It changes so quickly Renjun barely even register it. It morphs into something blank, emotionless; it’s scary. Renjun can feel Untouchable tense beside him. Jaemin doesn’t look angry any more, though. It’s something far worse than that. This is the calm before the storm.

The air around Renjun begins to grow hot. It’s stuffy, and sweat starts to collect at his forehead. The air is electric but dense all at once. Jaemin’s smile isn’t the one Renjun’s used to seeing. It’s crooked.

The blade in Untouchable’s hand catches fire. It’s a gentle flame, flickering softly against the silver metal. It doesn’t burn Renjun. It begins to climb, making its way up the knife, swarming up Untouchable’s arm. It infuses itself with his clothes, swallows his entire arm as Untouchable screams.

Jaemin puts the fire out and the air is cold.

Ash falls onto Renjun from the remains of the knife.

“I told you not to touch my boyfriend,” Jaemin shrugs, but there’s intensity to his words, a sort of mania Renjun has trouble grasping.

Jaemin’s eyes fall to where Untouchable is lying on the floor, cradling his arm and bound by ropes of fire. There’s an apathy to Jaemin’s gaze that is far scarier than anything else Renjun has witnessed today. Jaemin, by nature, is an open book. Loud, overly affectionate, and sympathetic. Seeing him like this is wrong, and Renjun hates it.

Jaemin seems to take a moment looking at Untouchable, his eyes faraway.

“Nana,” Renjun calls softly and Jaemin snaps back into reality, worry filling his eyes. And, just like that, Jaemin’s back.

“Injunnie,” he says, voice thick.

He surges forward in the same moment as Renjun’s bindings are melted away. Jaemin pulls him into a hug. It’s tight and it’s suffocating but it’s so so lovely, and Renjun melts into his warmth. His heart’s still beating fast, but it’s for another reason now; a better reason.

“I’m so so sorry,” Jaemin whispers, voice breaking as he does so.

Renjun shakes his head.

“I should never have left you alone. I should have-”

Renjun shushes him. “None of it is your fault. You saved me. I’m fine; I promise.”

Jaemin pulls away from the hug, taking Renjun’s wrist and turning it over in his hands, rubbing them with tender touches. “The ropes look like they hurt,” he frowns.

Renjun links their fingers together, pushing Jaemin’s head back up so he can look into his eyes. Jaemin’s eyes are wide with worry, fear, guilt, and something else Renjun can’t name.

And Renjun can’t think of anything to say, so he forgets words altogether and pushes himself onto his tiptoes to press his lips against Jaemin’s. It’s chaste but Renjun tries to convey as much as he wants to say through it. Jaemin, inexplicably, seems to understand.

They pull away and Renjun looks into Jaemin’s eyes once more, resting their foreheads against one another.

“Thank you for rescuing me, Firefly.”

“Anything for you, Injunnie.”

Silence passes between them.

“Do you really think I look like a bunny?”

“Fuck off, Jaemin.”

Jaemin grins, brighter than his fire could ever be, and Renjun feels warmth bloom in his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> im gonna level with you, im not good at endings so pls dont judge me too harshly for that last line
> 
> lmao i spent way too long thinking of a name for Jaemin's alter ego and then fireflies came on shuffle and it felt like a message from god so here we are ig
> 
> also like, im not entirely sure what the tone or point of this fic was supposed to be so im sorry if it feels a bit all over the place
> 
> i really enjoyed writing this, though, and might expand this into a series all set in the same universe so lmk if thats something you think you'd like :)
> 
> thank you for reading and if you enjoyed, please leave kudos and comments <3
> 
> hit me up on [twt](https://twitter.com/whatisanult) or [cc](https://curiouscat.me/whatisanult)


End file.
